Ramblings from the mind of a guy whose mind is always spinning and a spinning

Vacation

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We are back from vacation. We had a good time away but as always it was too short. Actually, it was a good thing we were coming home yesterday. I was flossing Tuesday night and broke off a cap on my front tooth. The dentist was willing to see me late in the afternoon as his last patient if I could drive to his other office (about 35 minutes away). Since we were already on our way home I easily made the time but it sort of threw us out of the return plans we had.

We had a good time watching Braden play baseball. He had two regularly scheduled games on Saturday and then had two makeup games on Sunday. We got cooked even though we did our best to stay in the shade.

I had an opportunity to see an old friend I have not seen since the late 70s. David is the pastor of a church in Worthington, OH and since Janna’s church starts late and we would have missed the whole first game, we decided to try a different one with an earlier service. Jo found out David was in Worthington. My last recollection of him was when he pastored a church in Cincinnati. It was good to see him after 30+ years. And no…he didn’t recognize me. I have a lot less hair now. 🙂 🙂

And eat? Oh man, did I eat! And not all the right stuff either. You can’t visit Sandusky, OH and not eat Toft’s ice cream. Twice. Big helpings. Braden sure liked it. He went from a Small to a Kids size. I went from a Medium to a Small. Gives you an idea of the amount of ice cream in a cup. I beat him at miniature golf. I beat him by 3 strokes but that is not counting the 8 mulligans his mamaw gave him on one hole. Golf is not his game; baseball is.

I came in for a few hours today since I have a wedding on Saturday. The rest of today and all day tomorrow is going to be spent with Jo as we finish out what is left of our vacation. There is a strong possibility there will be a two or three day bicycle vacation in July with a friend. Jo will follow and we will ride. That’s MY idea of a vacation. Jo has other ideas. In the long run, I guess she wins. (Least I tell her that).

Today is Wednesday. Today is also the day, Lord willing, we will be heading back home. To our house. To my bed. Aaaahhhh home sweet home. 🙂 To a yard which I figure needs cut baled. 🙁

If you have been keeping up you know we were in Ohio since last Friday.

I told you about my possible 2019 experiment experience here. I hope you have taken the time to read the Scripture I left with you each day. Another possible Scripture is this one here. It may be one of the most well-known of all the Psalms. I hope you will take the time to read it today.

What was most meaningful to you in your reading? How can you apply it?

Jo & I are gone for a few days. You can see what is in the works here. Rather than try to write a bunch of posts and pre-schedule them, I’m going to try something different.

One of the ideas I am kicking around in my oft-(suspected) empty head for 2019 is taking blocks of Scriptures and preaching multiple weeks on them. Tune in for the next couple of days and you will see what I mean. Anyway, each day I’m gone I’m going to post a passage of Scripture I’d like you to read for that day. Multiple times if you have the time. I already know these will be getting the nod if I decide to use this approach for 2019.

First up: Romans 8. You can read it here if you don’t have a Bible handy. This is quickly becoming one of, if not my favorite chapters in the Bible.

ENJOY!!

What are your thoughts on this passage? What stuck out to you?

By the way: I will check in to approve any comments.

One more thing! God has blessed me abundantly. Jo. Tami. Janna. My three greatest blessings. He added Jason to Janna’s life. Then Braden was added to theirs and ours. And, of course, countless others. Today I celebrate Tami’s ______rd birthday. She is in Atlanta with some friends being a traitor watching the Braves.

One of the values of being on vacation is one has a choice: do I get up or do I stay in bed? Except for one morning, I chose to get up early. I got up, had my Quiet Time of reading my devotions, Bible and New Morning Mercies. I journaled so I could contribute to the online group “discussion” I have with 5 other guys, then I headed to the fitness center. I was impressed with the size and machines available. I didn’t get any pictures of my working out because I didn’t want anyone to be blown away by tested muscles…or by asking, “You work out?” 🙂

But what getting up early and heading downstairs to the center afforded me was opportunities to see scenes like these:

And my favorite:

The latter was Sunday morning as we took our last walk on the beach before we left. We flew to Orlando on Monday, the 2nd, then on to Daytona Beach. But we needed to leave the timeshare by 10:00 Sunday and head back to Orlando. We were meeting old friends from OVCF, Caleb & Wendy Petree, for lunch. That was our timetable. The rental had different ideas as it wouldn’t start. So we waited for over an hour for a jump. We did get to meet up with the Petree’s.

I told the folks this past Sunday, “You can take the preacher out of his church but you can’t take the church out of the preacher.” So while we were walking the beach I had an audience.

Yeah…they didn’t listen very well. I couldn’t even keep the interest of the guy riding his bike. They were, for the most part, ignoring me. Go figure.

As I mentioned earlier, we made our way to Orlando to meet the Petree’s and went to an Irish pub at Disney Springs. The food was okay but the entertainment was superb! I felt like I was back watching Riverdance. The three musicians were fantastic, especially the female fiddler. The 4 dancers (2 guys/2 girls) were absolutely phenomenal. We sat right by the stage and saw it all up close. Their feet moved faster than my eyes could take it all in I think!

Monday, the 9th, was monumental on several fronts. First, we flew back to Indiana. Second, it was my 65th birthday. I can’t think of a better way to spend my birthday than with my bride of 44+ years. We owe a debt of thanks to Jerry & Gail Horn who made it all possible with the gift of the timeshare. They have yet to realize the “salvation” they brought to me and Jo. After two bicycles wrecks, 2 surgeries, 2 brushes with death, it was much needed. So a very public thank you to Jerry & Gail. I kept their names quiet until after the fact. 🙂

That was our first walk on the beach. This is one I captured and I’m not sure she even knows.

And this tells our story. Tami says it is sappy. But…oh well…

Thanks for coming along on my journey. Hope you enjoyed it. I will be back to my regularly scheduled-type-of-posts in my next one.

Seconds usually means a person goes to the food table to get “seconds,” a refill if you will. Our second day was not a repeat of the first day. Some friends of ours, Ryan and Amanda, who used to live in Florida told us we had to go to Aunt Catfishes in Port Orange. After a ’round about way to get there (thanks to the voice in our head phone), we finally arrived at Port Orange…early. Like very early. They didn’t open until 11:30. We got there about 10:00 so we just drove around in Port Orange. There really wasn’t much to see in the way of sightseeing, although we did get to see left over damage from Hurricane Irma. Many folks had furniture, etc piled near the road. I felt bad for them. Sort of made me wonder how many lost a lot…most everything…or very little. We saw houses damaged. Palm tree leaves were piled high in multiple places. But the hour finally arrived and AC opened. I think they cheated a bit. We were there on the tick and multiple people were seated.

The food was everything Ryan and Amanda said it would be. I had salmon and a great salad bar! Jo had a hamburger. Yeah…go figure. 🙂 They had damage from Irma but largely due to a broken window that allowed 2 feet of water in. They just ripped out the carpet and went back into business after about 2 days.

We headed back to the timeshare and the following pictures will tell you enough of the day. Let’s just say 25 mph winds can kick up a surf.

Stay tuned tomorrow for what happens when a storm rages at sea within camera range.

As many of you know we took the past week and headed off for our first “alone” vacation. That means we went where no one knew us and we saw no one we knew until Sunday afternoon when we went back to Orlando to turn in our rental car. I also confess I broke my “internet darkness” when I checked my email but that was it. I read two novels and started a more “serious” book. You can read about the “why” and the “how” of the vacation here. But I thought I would take a few posts and just show you a little bit of what Jo and I experienced.

First look:

First meal: (Can you guess where?)

First morning (Tuesday):

I took this after working out at the fitness center. I was treated to beautiful sunrises every morning. (Jo was sleeping…which was her goal). Here is another from a straight on angle. It would be left of the previous one.

As I said, I was treated each morning to a beautiful sunrise. It made me marvel at just another part of God’s creation which I have never seen before. I’ll add more pictures each day this week. Suffice it to say that it was a wonderful week. Hope you had a good week but I hope this one facing you is even better.